Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Cheeseburger obssession

While we were in New York we tried some really great burgers!   We loved the burgers we had at the New York original, Shake Shack.  Of course I looked on blog after blog and found a great recipe to try!  Only after a couple of hours of reading reviewer comments.

This is the site where I found the recipe- Thank you for sharing! 

http://iamafoodblog.com/best-burger-recipe/


I followed the directions and the end result was fantastic, so of course I had to share!







The amazing burger!!



They were so good that hubby requested them again the next day!   This time I added bacon! 



Enjoy!  

Pizza Pizza

One of the best parts of a big city is the quantity of pizza places.  NYC is definitely not short on pizza! 

We ended up going to three different places and one place twice in the same day! After coming back, the foodie that I am had to recreate that glorious thin crust pizza.  I'm a Chicago girl at heart and love the deep dish and thin pizza, but NY pizza crust is a little sweeter and foldable while you eat it!  

After searching Pinterest for hours for burgers, I added pizza to the list!   Here is the first one that I have tried, it will make three more pizzas, so I have more practice coming up! 

http://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/

I made the dough on Friday and took it out on Sunday and let it get to room temperature.  


When you pull the dough out, make sure it is bubbly, that means it is ready!


 



We ended up adding sausage and pepperoni and it was really good!  
Can't wait until next time!









Sunday, July 5, 2015

Cooking as a couple


I had a fabulous morning yesterday.   Not because I slept in, not because it was another day off, but because my husband picked out a recipe from one of my cookbooks to make to bring to a friends picnic and he said, "let's do this together."

I love to cook, and love that time in the kitchen.  there was something special about this, and I was giddy about it.  

He pulled out my favorite Barefood Contessa cook book and picked out this jambalaya recipe.  We made our shopping list and went to get the ingredients!

We woke up and ran to the store to get a couple items that we weren't sure if we had enough of and we got started at 9:30 in the morning.  

We turned on our streaming radio station and got to work!  First step, peeling and declining the shrimp!
We stood side by side in the sink to get this done! 

Next, I chopped up large onions and filled the cutting board! 


John was really into making sure the rice was clean!


Next, I chopped the red peppers!  

Hubby chopped the kielbasa!


I got the celery diced! 


Nexxt, hubby did the hard part and seeded the jalapeños! 
I squeezed the lemons to get our fresh lemon juice!


then diced and mined the jalapeños, that's a lot of jalapeños! 


We prepped the chicken by paper towel blotting and seasoning with salt and pepper!


Finally, at Noon, we were all prepped and ready to start cooking! 😊


Here is step by step of what the directions were and the steps that followed with us!






It turned out fantastic!  It was full of flavor and delicious!  We had a great time making it together and we finished everything around 2:30!  

So while the jambalaya was cooking, I had to make sweet cornbread to go with it! 

I use a pretty basic recipe
35 m12 servings189

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.


Thursday, July 2, 2015

Welcome to New York, Day 8


Our last day in NYC!  It was still a hot 81 degrees, but we didn't mind it at all, as there was still a nice breeze again.  We decided on somewhere new for breakfast, as we had a lot of time to walk around and explore on our last day, with no set plans.


We ended up on the Upper West Side at Mila Cafe.  This place had a great menu and they were very friendly.

John ordered two breakfast sandwiches.

I kept it pretty easy with cheesy eggs, bacon and toast.


After breakfast, we continued our walk.  These apartment buildings were pretty cool!



Next we made our way up to Morningside Park and walked around.

From here, we visited the campus of Columbia University.


It wouldn't be a trip to New York without a Seinfeld reference!  Here is the breakfast place of the Seinfeld show!

Next, we walked to the nearby Amsterdam Tavern.  It had great beer on tap and some funny quotes all over the place!


Of course we needed a snack, so we walked across the street to Mama's Pizzeria! 


Our last stop was Tara Hill, where all dogs are royals, totally our kind of place!


One last photo in front of our hotel, across the street from Central Park!  


We made our way to the airport pretty early, as we didn't want to take any chances with New York Traffic.  We got access to the Sky Club and had dinner and drinks until our late flight.


We were on our way home after an amazing time in NYC.  There is so much to see, eat and experience in this city!


Some photos of the city at night from the plane~ bye New York, you were seriously amazing! 


FitBit update: 20.095 steps or 8.39 miles.  Walked an average of 10 miles per day!  :)  

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